| Description |
xii, 380 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 365-378). |
| Summary |
On the last Friday evening of the summer of 2013, five shots rang out in the parking lot of a new Boys & Girls Club in a part of northeast Denver known as the Holly. Long a destination for African American families fleeing the Jim Crow South, the Holly had become an “invisible city” within a historically white metropolis. While shootings weren’t uncommon, the identity of the shooter that night came as a shock. Terrance Roberts was a revered activist. His attempts to bring peace to his community had won the accolades of both his neighbors and the state’s most important power brokers. Why had he just fired a gun? The author, award-winning journalist Julian Rubinstein who grew up in Denver, reconstructs the events leading up to the fateful confrontation that left a local gang member paralyzed and Terrance Roberts on trial, facing a life in prison. This is a multigenerational crime story that explores the porous boundaries between a city’s elites and its most disadvantaged citizens, as well as the fraught interactions of police, confidential informants, activists, gang members, and ex-gang members trying—or not—to put their pasts behind them. It shows how well-intentioned urban renewal may hasten gentrification, and what happens when overzealous policing collides with gang members who conceive of themselves as defenders, however imperfect, of a neighborhood. |
| Subject |
Gangs -- Colorado -- Denver.
|
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Gang prevention -- Colorado -- Denver.
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Violent crimes -- Colorado -- Denver -- Prevention.
|
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Community development -- Colorado -- Denver.
|
| ISBN |
9780374168919 (hardcover) |
|
0374168911 (hardcover) |
|
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